No more extensions for Dharavi residents who missed redevelopment survey as deadline ends

Maharashtra government’s Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) is the largest urban rejuvenation project in the world and is aimed at making Mumbai slum-free.

“We are now going through documents received from localities where surveys have been conducted. Those who did not cooperate will be identified as ‘documents not received’ in the draft list,” a DRP deputy collector in charge of the survey said.

Though there is no deadline extension for non-participants, the door-to-door survey will go on in some areas where buildings have been numbered but individual household information is still being gathered. “This is a housing-for-all project. The goal is to ensure that all eligible Dharavi residents are included in the redevelopment plan. The government does not want anyone to be excluded,” said an officer.

So far, the DRP has physically surveyed approximately one lakh structures. Of them, almost 94,500 have been provided with unique identification numbers, and more than 89,000 have been mapped digitally through LiDAR technology. Surveys of households have been conducted in approximately 70,000 tenements.

The DRP authorities have made it clear that buildings without survey participation or formal requests for inclusion will be considered as unauthorised. “Such tenements will be illegal and dealt with accordingly,” they added. When the project moves into its second phase, those residents who do not participate stand to lose out on the advantages of one of the most ambitious Mumbai housing programmes.